Reported
on the school board meeting - there was much testimony about the effect of
violence on school children riding buses. Looking for funding to run a small
demonstration project to train Minneapolis parents or other adults to become bus
monitors on buses. Because of the violence that happens to school children,
recommend that bus monitors be hired. This is the result of two years of work
using a grant for WEI, Little Earth and the East Phillips area. Karen requested
that Carol bring a letter of support from EPIC to the school board appealing
for support for a partnership between Little Earth of United Tribes and WEI for
funding from MN DOT grant for Safe Routes to School.It was at the last minute that Karen found
out about the meeting, but the turnout was good and the different speeches were
very impressive.

EPIC’s
motion and letter was very helpful in facilitating discussion with the city
council. They took the roof depot eminent domain off the Ways and Means and
City Council agenda, since this threat brought the buyers to the table. If you
would like to participate in future activities related to this subject, contact
Karen Clark or Shirley Heyer. Shirley Heyer said that there should also be an
environmental impact study on the city’s proposal.

MOTION: EPIC will begin the
process of considering an environmental assessment worksheet that will be
submitted to MN PCA in order to hold the city accountable for the impact of
pollution that would result from their proposal for the water yard. (KC, GK;
passed unanimously.)

Karen also announced that the Foundry’s
permit must be renewed soon and the public could weigh in at that time. Carol
pointed out that the zoning has change there from heavy industry to light
industrial, so the Foundry needs a conditional use permit as well as a renewed
permit. Karen pointed out that this may subject them to the law requiring a
cumulative impact study regarding the pollution if one has never been done.

7:18EPIC Infill Campaign Housing Program

Mike
Nelson from Habitat for Humanity passed out plans to complete the effort to
fill all vacant lots in EPIC

with
new construction.

Mike
passed out colored elevations, floor plans, site detail and a diagram of the
proposed lot split. Theses were explained and discussed.

Lot split and add
each part to the other lot to produce two new larger lots, House moved closer
to sidewalk and garage closer to alley to produce larger backyard.

Request letter
approving purchase by Habitat on these three properties to build two new
homes (4- and 5-bedrooms).

Goal is to purchase
by March and build in 2016. Will be affordable housing, preference to
current residents; competitive process as there are a lot of families in
need and a lot of interest in purchasing in this area.

Contact Mike or
Chad if interested.

Asked habitat to
send us the “criteria” for qualifying so we can distribute to membership.

Families selected
must put in 300-500 hours “sweat equity”.

First time home
buyer program; must attend 10 classes.

Will take about 6
months to get the house done.

Financing is done
through habitat. Pricing of homes: as builder and lender, FMV based on an
appraisal done by a 3rd party. Similar homes recently built and
sold in St. Paul for around $210,000.

Requested that
Habitat for Humanity come back to the community for feedback on the
exterior color.

180 individuals who
have applied for housing, and who are housing ready. 60 of them are living
in the EPIC or nearby neighborhoods.

Not accepting
applications again until Jan. 1

New interest rates
apply and will review with current applicants.

March – will work
with other housingagencies. All
applicants must be recommended from these agencies. Encourage people to
get n touch with the following organizations. The first steps are to
determine if you are ready for home ownership. These organizations will
help you determine this.

BIIGIIWIN

Neighbor Works
Home Partners

PPL

CLUES

African
Development Center

Neighborhood
Development Alliance

Hmong American
Partnership

LAO Assistance
Center of MN

Build Wealth MN

DEC 2015 Board
MOTION:
EPIC will write a letter of support for Habitat for Humanity to purchase the
lots from CPED and split them as advised by Habitat for Humanity “proposed site
plan – lot split of Lot 42.” (LL, MO; Approved.)

Moved
by GK; Approved.

7:45Report on Roof Depot Site

Distributed a report that will be published in the Alley
News. It states the motion made at the EPIC meeting of Article was reviewed by
various people and copies of the article along with EPIC’s PowerPoint and
additional documents were given to several city council members in conjunction
with meeting with the city council along with Karen Clark.

7:50 Public Safety Issues: Problems and Solutions

Margarita reported on Speed bumps. EPIC received information
back from the city – they monitored both 16th and 18th
Ave’s were monitored for safety issues and both streets were approved. Now it
is up to us to raise the funds. Each hump costs $7,500 each.

EPIC
will establish two restricted funds in our account; 18th Av S – 25th
St E to 24th St E (2 speed bump) and 16th Av S – Lake St
E to 29th St E (2 speed bumps), and will solicit funds from the
affected community members (individuals and organizations and businesses) as
well as seek public funding for a small portion of each project. EPIC will set
up a restricted account in QuickBooks. Rosie discussed fund raising.

Jean
said we need to have two fund raisers, one for each fund.

Rosie
and LD, who will be the contact person
for the 16th Ave. speed bump and and RC will co-chair.

MO
will be the contact person for fundraising for the 18th Ave. speed
bump.

Cameras. Two hot spots for locating cameras have been
discussed in EPIC meetings over the years. Cost is estimated around
$16,000-20,000 each. Police monitor these cameras, and they have been effective
in solving crimes, and making community spaces safer. Ingebretson’s agreed to
put a crime camera on their building. Cameras cannot be put on existing poles
owned by city or Xcel. Cameras need to be on 2nd story.Cecil
Smith can guide us in seeking assistance from the Park Board to provide a
pole for a camera at Cedar Field. Monthly cost: electricity, monitoring

MOTION: EPIC
will purchase and install two cameras (one near 16th Ave-Lake St.
and one at Cedar Field Park) and will authorize CP and MO to research the
process on getting the pole that will hold the camera, and costs. (JH, RC;
Approved unanimously.)

EPIC
Ambassadors: This program did not get off the ground. It needs volunteers
to take it on.

Bike
Lanes on 26th St & Cedar: Traffic problems occur:

Yellow stripe looks
white at night; people try to use it as a left turn lane.

A very tight right
turn.

EPIC
will write a formal letter to the city.

Bike
Lanes on 28th & Cedar: Traffic moving east gets stuck
and backs up because there is no way to make a left-hand turn as there is no
lane and no error any longer.East bound
traffic levels prevent this.This
then results in northbound traffic being held up by the left turns going
through the red light. Add this to
formal letter to the City.

8:30 City approval of floor plans for Welna/EPIC
office. CP reported on the work EPIC had been doing regarding getting
an office. She presented the Welna site and how the project was going.

M. Green requested information on when EPIC learned that the
space would not be feasible. Is this the only solution we have. Raised the
issue of whether physical office space necessary?

CP stated that EPIC has
investigated alternate sites for years as well as researched other neighborhoods’
response to their neighborhood needs and how well their various office choices
have assisted them in serving them. EPIC has been motivated by criteria
including accessibility and nearness to the neighborhood for a walking pedestrian
community. Criteria has been discussed at neighborhood meetings over several
years. We looked at offices within other organizations, we looked at purchasing
property. Nothing had works. No suitable space has been found in East Phillips.
A motion was requested to proceed with taking plans for an addition to the
building to the City for development review.

An intense discussion ensued
regarding how the plan to expand the Welna space occurred. This discussion also
included the appropriateness of a letter of support to the School Board for the
Native American and Phillips School Bus Monitoring project, since the board
hadn’t seen the letter.It was pointed
out that the letter was requested at the last minute by Rep. Karen Clark on the same day it was
needed to be presented. It was also claimed that the EPIC office had
not been before the community, would cost money and that there was no
transparency. Others voiced that they did not agree with these remarks. Carol pointed
out this is not about committing money, only determining the feasibility and
that it had been before the community.. Three members did not agree and left the
meeting as they voted. The question was called and the vote was taken

MOTION: EPIC should bring the proposed office addition to the city to find out if , with the addition, it could be
approved for use as an office space. (CP, LD; Approved: 7 in favor, 3 opposed.

Lot split and add
each part to the other lot, House closer to sidewalk and garage closer to
alley.

Request letter
approving purchase by Habitat on these three properties to build two new homes
(4- and 5-bedrooms).

Goal is to purchase
by March and build in 2016. Will be affordable housing, preference to
current residents; competitive process as there are a lot of families in
need and a lot of interest in purchasing in this area.

Contact Mike or
Chad if interested.

Asked habitat to
send us the “criteria” for qualifying so we can distribute to membership.

Families selected
must put in 300-500 hours “sweat equity”.

First time home
buyer program; must attend 10 classes.

Will take about 6
months to get the house done.

MOTION: EPIC will write a
letter of support for Habitat for Humanity to purchase the lots from CPED and
split them as advised by Habitat for Humanity “proposed site plan – lot split
of Lot 42.” (LL, MO; Approved.)

Requested
that Habitat for Humanity come back to the community for feedback on the
exterior color.

EPIC
will update the website to let the community know that the board has been
working on the bylaws, as well as inform the community at the next GMM.

Michael
volunteered to move the proposed changes into an excel sheet. Margarita agreed
to enter the “rationalizations” and Carol will proof it.

LL
will research and present options for presenting to the community for the
January board meeting. Consider initial presentation to GMM in January.

11:20EPIC Office – Floor plan, Mr. Welna’s
generosity

After investing time and money improving the space that EPIC
leased from Mr. Welna, the city informed us that we can’t use the space as an
office due to the lack of a handicapped accessible restroom. So we are
currently not paying rent and working on a plan to expand the space to include
both the restroom and a conference room.

Before any agreement for leasing an improved space can be
considered or negotiated, EPIC needs to first obtain approval from the City of
Minneapolis for the project.

EPIC has funds from previous NRP programs that has been
returned to EPIC and needs to be repurposed. Other funding avenues need to be
explored.

11:30Roof Depot Site …Update (tabled)

11:40Crime and safety-Progress on implementing
NPP - Large Camera siting, Two Cameras?

Crime and Safety meeting time ??.

Speed bumps.

Recommended
by community:

The
city evaluated both streets to determine whether they qualify for installation
of bumps (reports presented) and both streets qualified. Each hump costs $7,500
each.

Challenges:
bumps help “one person/block” only.

Challenges: EPIC has to pay for this ourselves

Proposal:
Based on how this is paid for in other neighborhoods,

MOTION: EPIC would begin two
funds; 18th Av S – 25th St E to 24th St E (2
speed bump) and 16th Av S – Lake St E to 29th St E (2
speed bumps), and will solicit funds from the affected community members
(individiuals and organizations) as well as seek public funding for a small portion
of each project. (MO, JB;

MOTION: EPIC will set up a
restricted account in QuickBooks. (LL, RC; Approved.)